CFE Joins Fight Against New Gas Plant

Update: Our application has been granted, and CFE now has formal party status in the application. Read more.

CFE Files for Party Status in Killingly Energy Center Application

Connecticut Fund for the Environment has formally filed for party status in an application currently before the Connecticut Siting Council. NTE Connecticut, LLC is seeking approval to build a new natural gas powered electric generating plant in Killingly, Conn., to be known as the Killingly Energy Center. CFE contends that the application is incomplete and misleadingly minimizes the potential adverse environmental impact of the entire project.

“NTE’s application doesn’t include all the components of the project, which makes it look like impacts to the environment and local residents will be less than they actually could be,” explained Jack Looney, staff attorney for CFE. “This is called segmentation, and it’s a common tactic to push projects through without considering the environmental impacts of all of the component parts The complete project will require not just the power plant and a switchyard but includes replacement of a 2.8-mile, 50-year-old gas pipeline with a larger one and four other interconnections. All of this construction activity will affect the local environment. The least NTE can do is provide an accurate picture of the likely environmental impacts of the entire project so the Siting Council can properly weigh the environmental compatibility of the complete project.”

The Killingly Energy Center is expected to include:

A 550 megawatt dual-fuel combined cycle electric generating facility;

An electrical interconnection switch yard;

Four additional interconnections; and

Excavation and removal of a 2.8-mile section of a 50-year-old natural gas distribution pipeline owned by Eversource and its replacement with a larger pipeline.

The application currently before the Siting Council includes only the generating facility and switchyard.

Applications for the pipeline replacement and the other interconnections will be filed with the Siting Council separately and at a later time by Eversource and others.

“Building a new natural gas plant is the wrong project at the wrong time,” said Roger Reynolds, legal director. “Connecticut needs to move toward cleaner energy sources and away from old dirty fossil fuels that will foul our air and emit greenhouse gases for decades to come.”

Looney also noted, “This area is already overburdened, with nine major power plants within a 30-mile radius—including one just a mile from the proposed facility—and some of the highest asthma rates in the state. We stand with the citizen members of Not Another Power Plant in their struggle to protect their health and environment from the impacts of another electric generating plant in their community.”